


Kvitravn

by diasthedeathknight



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Teaching a Warlord about Sparrows, Transgender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:14:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27904297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diasthedeathknight/pseuds/diasthedeathknight
Summary: Kvitravn, a small village carved into the large Himalaya Mountains, is forced to search for other survivors out in the wild as their Warlord spots a boulder that threatens to crumble their whole cave system.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

The steady rhythm of steel on stone pulsated through the mountain like it's own heartbeat, with each swing of the ax he chipped away a little bit of the stone, carving out more and more room for the new expansion he was planning to make inside his village.

Kvitravn was a city of stone, carved into the stone by his own hands and tools. The song of metal and stone was his song, his music, it coursed through his veins like a second heartbeat, stronger than his own, stronger even than the heartbeat of his solar light.

This city was his own, he had built it and he was their overseer, their protector. His memories might be a bit fuzzy, but he remembers the day that he started to carve into the mountain, it was the first time his memories were clear and from there on out they stayed that way, nothing else would make them mud-like.

So when his claws reported the first time that there might've been chances of a cave-in, he was getting more relentless. He had built this city with his own hands, carved each of the houses out of the stone, shaped the roads, and made the system that brought in fresh air while also allowing the old air to get out.

They survived so long isolated down here, that most of the children didn't even know that there was a whole world outside and Xardis had never seen someone else in a long time.

He also was the one who would oversee the Bloodrite for every Hatchling that wanted to make a name for themself and every time he was impressed just how much they knew and how hard they had trained to become a Claw, a Feather or an Eye.  
The Eyes of Kvitravn only were recently founded by the Council and himself when they had found a dead body and a Feather told them that the person didn't die because of old age, but because someone had killed them.

Xardis personally aided them in finding the killer and when they found him, he himself executed the man, who had killed his partner in a fit of rage and didn't even see any wrongdoings in his crime that he had committed.

He didn't want to kill the man, but he had to do it to show his people that they were safe, that they could trust him to protect them, and that he would not hesitate to kill those that would threaten them.

While the steady sound of his tool against the stone clams him down, it also allows his thoughts to drift out towards a few problems they been having recently.

The quality of the air was getting a bit lower than usual and their water also was a lot more polluted with stones and dirt, even if he had a few Claws and Eyes investigate it, they couldn't find anything so it meant that he had to look into it himself after he had carved out this section to store additional food in.

“What is on your mind?”

He had stopped in his work and the little Ghost, that he had called Hugin, floated next to him, knowing exactly that something had made his partner pause.

“What if the Claws are right?”, he asks him and Hugin shakes his shell that is handcrafted out of white marble, gray veins cutting in a beautiful pattern through each of the pieces of the shell and they reflect the orange glowing orbs of solar light as he spins them.

“Why would that be so bad? Maybe we finally get to see the world outside. Aren't you tired of just being in here and the only one who can wield the Light?”

Xardis shakes his head and he looks down on the pickax in his hands.

“It is peaceful and I like that”, he replies and smiles at Hugin, who simply lets out a sigh.

“For me it's boring, even if listening to the stories that the children make up is something that I enjoy I want to see the world outside of this village”

“We are safe down here, Hugin. I don't want to lose more people of my village and I told you that already”, the Warlord states in a firm voice and Hugin spins his shell, then he floats back to his usual space up on Xardis shoulders.

“Kvitravn would also be safe without you, you know?”, he then says and sighing Xardis puts down the pickax, then he gently plucks his Ghost out from his neck and looks at him.

“How often do I have to tell you that I don't want to go out there and fight? I don't want to cause death, I don't want people to mourn for their lost ones”

“We don't even know if there are people outside or if we are the only ones that survived! And you wouldn't even let me try and search for others of my kind!”

“Because it is dangerous! Hugin, please I don't want to argue with you anymore. We've known each other so long and...you are the only one that I don't have to bury. You are like me so...please don't argue with me. I understand you and I know how you feel. How about we explore what is causing the issues with the air and water supply and while we are doing that you can scan for anything in the area. How does that sound?”

The little Ghost lets out a sigh and then cuddles into Xardis large hands.

“Fine...guess that'll have to do for now”, he mumbles, a bit upset.

“Let's finish the room then”, with those words he picks up the pickax again, the wood feeling so familiar in his hands as he begins to chip away the last pieces of stone that he would need to make the room larger. He would do the finer work tomorrow and smoothen out the walls, carve in some pockets into the walls so they could store the food in there to keep it cold and fresh.  
He takes only his trusted large Shotgun with himself as he throws a larger fur over himself to not freeze in the cold areas that he would go up into. It was never easy to climb onto the mountain and despite having traveled the path multiple times, it was every time a small adventure.

The cold snow bit with dozen sharp needles into his face and cheeks as he emerged from one of the tunnels that lead up into the mountain, one that he had built himself after he needed a quick way to make it up to where the entrance for the air vents and the origin of their water supply was.

But instead of being greeted by the same snow-white landscape he was so used to, he now found a weird shaped large object lodged in the side of the mountain. The snow had gathered all over it and a faint orange glow came out between the black plates. Carefully he stepped closer and gently placed one of his gloved hands on it. It was too big as that he himself could move it and he certainly was lacking a lot of equipment to even lift such a large boulder from the mountain without causing a lot of issues and trouble for Kvitravn.

“I think we need to talk to the Council for this...”, Hugin said and Xardis only answer was a nod.

“Tell them and send them all up here. They need to see this...”, he says, staring at the large mysterious glowing bolder that had crashed into the mountain. That would also explain why there wasn't that much air coming through, the bolder had landed on a few of the central vents and now the air couldn't get into the vents anymore. As for the dirt that was simply when the large boulder had landed on the mountain. And they were so far down that they didn't hear the impact of it, nor felt it.

But this was a larger problem, one that his village alone couldn't fix.

He needed help...but he wasn't sure if there was anyone out there who could lend him that kind of help. Who would have the resources to move such a large bolder in the first place?


	2. Chapter 2

The Warlord had hunkered down next to the big boulder that was now on top of his list of things to take care of. After all, this could not only bring his village in danger but it could also lead to the entire mountain collapsing and he really didn’t want to have to evacuate the entire village. A few of the kids weren’t even able to walk and there were also a few pregnant women within his village that wouldn’t be able to make the trip, especially not now when the temperatures were about to get even colder. He stared up at the large boulder and then noticed that it wasn’t a boulder but…something else.

A strange white symbol was painted onto one of the massive plates of the ‘boulder’ and he frowned as he took in the form once more.

The blue light of Hugin announced the arrival of the small drone together with the Council, one of them had a Datapad clutched tightly against her chest, and the furs that covered her fragile older body were a gift from the Feathers, made from some of the left-over furs that the Claws didn’t use up. Xardis took great pride in his Claws, they always brought home enough food for his village, and sometimes they even brought in old scraps of technology they were able to find in the outskirts of the abandoned ruins of another village. He often asked himself what had forced the people to abandon their homes when he had found such a ruin himself, walking through the ruins as he had imagined what kind of life the people had lived before they had to flee and leave everything they knew behind.

“As you can see, this is the reason for the bad quality of water and air. This…boulder fell on top of one of the main vents that supply our village with fresh air and also on the source for our water, causing the increase in dirt and stones in it”, Xardis tells them and looks at the large thing.

“It is too big to be safely removed from the mountain without causing a lot of damage to the surroundings and I am not strong enough to even be able to lift it and slide down the mountain with it. Not to speak if I could survive that”, Xardis says and then looks towards the oldest member of the council, Nadia, the woman that was clutching the Datapad in her hand. She was responsible for keeping the eyes in check and also archived everything that happened in the history of the Village, earning her the title of Archivar.

“I do not remember anything like this, do your archives have something?”, he asks her and her eyes squint at the mechanical construct, then she moves closer to Xardis, shivering underneath her mantle of fur.

“I can’t find any sources mentioning such a construct, but my archives are only focused on the history of this village and not of the Dark Age and what constructs might be made during that time”, she tells him, grey eyes staring at the large thing as she tries to make sense of it.

“Whatever it is, it needs to be taken care of”, Dres says and Xardis nods, looking at the smaller man.

Dres was a Claw before he joined the Council, badly injured in one of the Hunts where they had hunted down an injured buck. The animal had hit him in the face, splitting open his lip and nearly killing him with the hit, if it wouldn’t have been for the feathers that took care of him and saved his life with their medicine.

Xardis himself often visited them and helped them out wherever he could if there was anything that he could help with.

“But no one is helped with not knowing what it is. What if someone comes searching for it and finds us in the process of removing it? They would surely attack us”, Havi raises a good point.

“That is why I had Hugin get all of you so we could discuss what we could do. Letting it stay here is no option”, Xardis says and then moves closer to the large construct that is about twice his size.

“The ground it sits upon is frozen ice and stone, what if some breaks away under the weight of the construct and it falls down the mountain? It would cause a lot of destruction and chaos within the wildlife and make hunting for food impossible. No animal would ever come near the mountain and the Claws would need to venture out even further than they are already doing”, Nadja tells them and Xardis nods.

Hugin looks at Xardis and then says: “I…have an idea”

The Warlord crosses his arms and looks at the small drone, then with a stern voice he says: “No, we are not going to follow one of your ‘dreams’ or any of the legends you told me about. About there being a…large white construct in the sky that birthed you and gave life to so many other drones”

“They are not legends! If you would just-!”

“Maybe your little bird is right. How long does this village exist now?”, Dres turns to look at Xardis and the caramel eyes are full with hope.

“And when he isn’t right? What then? Then we wasted Eyes, Claws, and other people, trying to find this legendary, Last City that he once heard about”, Havi interjects and Nadja nods, then she asks: “May we continue this talk inside? It is freezing out here and none of us have the luxury of having a glowing little drone at their side that can heal all injuries”

“Yes, I can make us some tea, and then we can talk about this in peace, without having to freeze out here in the cold”, Havi says and Xardis silver eyes light up at the thought of Havi’s legendary tea. He didn’t quite know what kind of herbs the other used to make the tea, but it always warmed up the body and tasted quite delicious.

Wrapping his own coat tighter around himself the Warlord nods and with a flash of solar light, he leads the three members of his council back towards the hidden entrance that he and they had used to get on top of the mountain.

The soft crackling of the fire was the only source of noise in the silence that had grown between the four as everyone warmed their cold hands against the small fire that Xardis had lit inside the room. Golden light danced over everyone’s bodies and faces, drawing deep shadows in Nadia’s worried expression.

“One of the Eyes reported to me that the northern water chamber is too polluted to be used as a source of water, which only leaves the southern and western water chambers as a source for the village”, she then tells, and Xardis nods, rubbing his hands together to get a bit of the feeling back in them.

“I had feared that…the northern water chamber is directly underneath the place where this large construct has hit the mountain”, he tells her and flexes his fingers, shivering as he can feel the cold flesh of his fingers against the warm palms of his hands.

“You know, you could keep your hands warm if you would wear gloves”, Nadia said in a warm motherly tone and the Warlord let out a soft chuckle.

“And yet I don’t wear them, because I have none”, he said and the woman looks surprised at him.

“We have to change that!”, she proclaims and Xardis chuckles softly, exactly that was the reason why he had wanted her in his Council.

She was like a mother for the whole village and despite not being able to have children herself, she often spent a lot of time with the children of the village, earning the respect of quite a lot of them. Even some of the younger Hatchlings still looked up with respect to her. And to think that she was once a boy running around the streets of the village, playing hide and seek with the other children.

The Feathers had done everything to take away the fear that she sometimes had or the feeling of not being in the right body, but sometimes those feelings would come back, and then Xardis would be there for her, comforting her and telling her about what a beautiful and wise woman she was, often recounting the times when she was younger and how fierce she used to be, remembering her of the good times that she had.

Nadia was also the only one that ever knew about the crescent-shaped scars on Xardis chest and what they meant. She also had seen him naked once when he was getting a check-up from one of the feathers.

And she had not lost one word of it to the other members of the Council or her friends, telling Xardis that if he ever had to fight with the same problems as she did, then he could search her out and she would be there for him.

He would miss her once she was gone. In the entire time that he had built this village and acted as their leader, there was no woman like Nadia and he viewed her as a very good friend. 

“I do hope that we can find a solution for this…”, Nadia says and then stands up from her kneeling position, grabbing the blue glowing Datapad that she always has with her.

“I hope that too…”, Xardis mutters into the flames as he watches her walk towards the large stone table in the middle of the room.

The door opens with a soft creaking noise and Havi enters, four large steaming mugs in his hands and the sweet scent of the tea hits Xardis, making him smile.

“Some time you have to tell me that recipe!”, he says and the man chuckles amused, then he tells him: “I will tell you that when my time has run out on this planet and my ancestors take me to them”

“That day will be a sad one for the entire village”, Nadia says and then gently takes one of the mugs in her hands, letting out a soft sigh of relief as the warm clay warms up her slightly cold hands.

“Not as sad, as the day you will leave us”, Havi says and Xardis chuckles softly as he can see the faint red blush on Nadia’s cheeks. They often tend to flirt like that, but never had one of them acted on it and he wouldn’t dare interfere in it, despite Dres trying to get the two of them together.

“Now… where is Dres?”, Havi looks around the room, searching for the youngest member of the Council.

“I think one of the Claw Hatchlings requested his presence earlier”, Hugin chimes in and Xardis nods.

“Shall we wait on him then?”, he asks and looks at the two other Council members, moving over to the table and taking the mug from it where Havi had set it down.

“It would be an unwise move to not wait on him”, Nadia says, then she takes a sip from the tea, letting out a soft sigh at the taste.

“Delicious as always, my dear Havi”, she tells him, and Havi chuckles to hide the blushing of his cheeks.


	3. Chapter 3

Xardis took another small sip from the tea and let out a low content hum as he can feel the warmth spreading throughout his entire body, making him feel a bit lighter than he actually is, almost as if he was floating.

Nadia looked over her Datapad, going over the image that Hugin made from the large metal construct until she suddenly frowned and stared at it.

“This symbol…”, she mutters and then looks up to Havi and Xardis, who both look at her.

“You saw it somewhere before?”, Havi asks her, and Nadia nods, showing them the gray symbol and then another symbol that was painted onto a crate, looking exactly like that one on the construct.

“Some of the Claws brought this crate in a few days ago. It contained ammunition and a few other things that we don’t have any use for. I distributed the contents to the families and had the ammunition melted down and made into tools”, she tells them and Xardis nods. None of them were using firearms and the only exception to that rule was Xardis himself, but the large Shotgun was only for decoration and part of his visual appearance. He never once fired it or even had it loaded with ammunition. The rules forbid the usage of firearms in the village or even carrying fully loaded ones.

“Where did they find this crate…?”, Xardis asks Nadia and she hums, looking through the report that the Claws had given her from the Hunt.

“It was in one of the ruins among half-destroyed crates that had all the same symbol on it. They first thought it was the symbol of the village, but I don’t think so. No village would have the power to build something like we have on top of our mountain. At least not that I have ever heard from one that had the access to such resources and blueprints for such a large construct”, she explains to them and Xardis folds his hands, resting his head on top of them as he closes his eyes, trying to think for a solution to the problem.

His thought process is interrupted by the creaking sound of the opening door and the soft footsteps that belong to Dres.

“I hope the tea hasn’t gone cold!”, the man exclaims and Xardis opens his silver glowing eyes, looking at him with a soft smile.

“No, the tea is still warm”, he says and Dres smiles even brighter, grabbing the mug that Havi hands to him, wrapping his hands around it, and taking a small sip from it.

“Hmmm…delicious as always Havi. One day you have to tell us how you make this tea!”

“Maybe I’ll do that when we have that construct safely from our mountain”, Dres tempts them and Xardis lets out a soft chuckle, knowing that that is Havi’s way of motivating all of them to think for a solution.

“Since we know that I can heal every injury that Xardis gets…how about we two get out there and…?”

“That idea again? Hugin, if you are that motivated to leave this village, just tell us and we can let you go to explore the outside!”, Xardis says, quite annoyed by the consistency with that the little bird talks about the dream that he had and the desire to explore the lands beyond those they had already mapped out.

“But he might be onto something there”, Havi adds and then looks to Xardis.

“We can lead the village while you are gone, Dres did that already when you were gravely injured, remember?”, Nadia then says and Xardis lets out a sigh, looking towards Dres, who takes another sip from the warm tea.

“Would you be okay with this, Dres?”

“I already did it once, so there would be no harm in doing it again”, the man says with a warm smile, and Xardis nods, then he looks to Hugin.

“If we find nothing, I make you responsible for that and have you clean up the mess that the other birds make!”, he says and Hugin pulses in protest: “But I don’t have hands!”

“Then I’ll have the blacksmith fashion you a new shell with cleaning tools!”

The soft laughter of Nadia, Havi, and Dres breaks up the tense moment and Xardis looks back towards them with a confused look on his face.

“What is the matter?”, he asks them and Nadia is the first one to talk.

“You two bicker like an old married couple”, she tells them with a smile and Xardis lets out a tired sigh, shaking his head.

“I can’t believe that those words are coming from you”, he then says in a jokingly tone, and the older woman smiles at him.

“But that does sound like a good idea. Dres takes over your responsibilities for the time that you and Hugin are gone. Do you want to take one of the birds with you?”

Xardis thinks about the question for a bit, having a way to contact them would be wise, especially when they really find this ‘Last City’.

“I will take one with me”, he says and Nadia nods, looking on her Datapad and scrolling through a few rows of text until she stops and nods.

“We’ll have Odin come with you. He’s a younger raven, but he seems to like you”

Xardis chuckles as he is reminded about the young white raven, that was always clawing at others, but tame and calm when he was approaching the animal.

“Do the handlers still have to wear gloves when working with him?”, he asks with a smirk, and Nadia sighs, nodding in confirmation.

“He almost clawed the eye out of a young Feather Hatchling that wanted to look at a small injury he got from fighting with another Raven”, she then tells him and Xardis starts to laugh.

“They should simply respect him and not treat him like an animal! Odin is too smart and notices that they think of him less. That is why he attacks them”, he shakes his head and then drinks the last bit of his tea.

“Anyway…I will prepare myself for departure…anything that you want to tell me before I go?”, he asks as he stands up in a swift motion, already laying out plans for what he'll take with him in his head.

“You’ll leave us so soon?!”, Havi asks surprised and Xardis nods.

“The sooner the better”, he says with a grim expression on his face, not at all thrilled to leave his village behind like this, a village he had guarded for ages and decades, something that he had build with his own two hands. But he also knew that it would be in the good hands of his council and so he wasn't that worried about it.

“That is a good argument. While you are gone we’ll think about ways to get rid of the construct, should you fail to locate this Last City”, Dres tells him and the Warlord nods, looking to Hugin who seems to be quite happy that he finally got his wish.


	4. Chapter 4

“I should’ve never listened to you!”, Xardis screamed over the heavy rain that poured down over him, drenching his clothes and having them cling like a second skin to his body. His muscles ached and he didn’t know how many days or weeks had passed since he had made his way towards the location of this ‘Last City’ that Hugin talked about so much recently.

“This is just a bit rain and wind, nothing to worry about!”, Hugin told him, hiding in the small space between Xardis neck and the large hood that the Warlord was wearing over his head.

Odin, who was sitting on Xardis shoulder, gave a loud sound of protest and snuggled closer to Xardis’ head.

“For you and me that might be the case, but Odin has been shivering for two hours now!”, the Warlord informed the glowing bird, then he turns his head to look at the white raven that was sitting on his shoulder.

“We should rest, Hugin you see any caves nearby?!”, the Warlord yells over the loud sound of rain, flinching again when he hears the loud cracking sound of thunder, then a flash of white lights up the area around them and another loud crackling sound has Odin screech out in panic. Xardis knows that the Raven would never leave his side, but at this rate, the poor animal will be dead from panic before they make it any further.

“There is an old wood cabin not far from here!”

“How do you know that?!”

“I do not know! It just showed up on my scans!”, Hugin shouts back and Xardis nods, shivering as the cold wind grips again at his body and ice-cold needles pierce his whole body.

He raises one hand and places it on Odin’s head, producing a bit of solar light for the Raven to at least not be that cold anymore.

With a very weak caw, the Raven cuddles his head into Xardis’ palm, and worry grips at his heart that it might be too late for the animal.

“I’m sorry…”, he whispers to Odin and then he takes the animal from his shoulder, opening up the wet coat that he wears and gently folds it over the Raven, who lets out a protesting caw as the cold fur is laid over him, the caws are muffled by the fur and Xardis holds Odin close to his body, shivering himself from the cold rain.

Hugin floats out of the small safe space that he was in and then beings to hover in front of Xardis, blue light suddenly fills the air around them and he illuminates the path that he was walking on.

In the blue light, he can spot the small cabin that Hugin mentioned, and at the sight of being somewhere safe from the rain and cold, the mood of the Warlord increases.

“Stars be thanked”, he mutters and gathers the last of his strength as he starts to walk towards the cabin.

Xardis starts to cough and he trips over a loose root that was in his way, Odin’s loud caw pierces even through the cloak and the howling sound of the wind in his ears. He catches his balance again and shivers as he peeks between the folds of the cloak, looking down into two black eyes of Odin, who looks back at him, the gaze neutral as the raven shivers again and lets out another caw, this time it sounds like he is getting impatient.

“We’ll be getting there when we get there!”, Xardis says, a bit annoyed at the antics of the animal.

Odin caws again and then cuddles deeper into Xardis cloak, probably searching for any kind of warmth or dry space where the rain hasn’t hit him.

Xardis stares at the door that is in front of him as he stops at the cabin, shaking he raises his hand to open the door, but his knees give out underneath him and he falls into the mud, his body shivering as his last bit of strength fades.

But he wouldn’t be the leader of his village if he couldn’t make it through a simple storm. With a deep rumbling growl, the Warlord gathers every last bit of strength that he has in his body and pushes through the exhaustion that pulls like a heavyweight on his body and mind.

He nearly stumbles into the cabin as Hugin opens the door for him and the first thing he does is collapsing onto the floor of the cabin, water drips from his drenched clothes and he blinks at the wooden floor, the pattern of the wood somehow so mesmerizing to him.

“Shitty weather outside, hm?”

His head snaps up and he stares at the person that sits on a chair, one leg is crossed over the other as the person wears some kind of…white-black robe, white trousers with long-shafted boots round the image up and a weird…white mask is sitting over their face that is adorned with a set of two black horns.

The man stands up and walks over to the door, gently closing it behind himself and drowning out the sound of the loud howling wind together with the thunder and heavy rain.

“Never thought that another person would be out in that kind of weather”, the man says and then gestures to the crackling fire.

“Hang your clothes there, I have spare ones that you can use”, the voice sounds…mechanical, almost like he is speaking through a device. And the inside of his mouth also lights up purple, whenever he is talking, which intrigues Xardis even more.

Shivering he places down the large backpack that he was wearing, Odin lets out a loud caw and shakes his body, trying to get the water out of his soaked feathers, then the raven looks over to the fireplace and runs towards it, nearly falling into the flames as he comes to a stop before it, sitting down with his wings spread out on the floor to absorb the heat from the crackling fire.

“I see you are not traveling alone. Been quite a while since I saw a raven. Never saw a white one”, the man tells him and Xardis looks up to him, shaking as he strips off the drenched fur coat and hangs it on a metal hook that is in the wall over the fireplace. Odin caws in protest as some of the water drips onto his tail feathers and the white Raven skitters a bit to the left to avoid the water drops.

“Did you send the signal?”, Hugin asks curious and the man simply nodded.

“Couldn’t let a Ghost fall into the claws of curious Eliksni, even if the weather should hold them inside their homes for now”

“Ghost…?”, Xardis asks confused and the man sits back down onto his chair, then he crosses his legs and places his hand down on them.

“How about you get some fresh clothes on and then we talk?”, he proposes and Xardis nods, being more than relieved to finally be able to get out of those clothes.

The purple glowing eyes take in all the scars on his body and then he nods towards Hugin.

“I take it that he belongs to you?”, he says and Xardis only nods, his body shakes too much as that he could form any kind of sentence.

The man lets out a sigh and then suddenly purple tendrils wrap themselves around Xardis, who flinches back, staring with wide eyes at the glowing tendrils that are now heating up, drying his hair and wet skin, his body greedily siphons in the warmth from them and the shaking stops a few moments later. Then the tendrils leave him and a low whimpering sound comes from Xardis as the heat is taken from him.

Then the question that was asked comes back to Xardis mind.

“Y-Yes!”, he answers, still a bit shivering from the rest of the cold that is clinging to his body as he strips off the rest of his clothes, now standing naked in front of the other man.

Xardis isn’t bothered by it and the other also doesn’t seem to be faced by it, then he kneels down to search through his backpack for the set of spare clothes that Havi had given him for occasions like this.

A few moments later he finds them and puts on the leather trousers that are lined on the inside with the fur of rabbits, the shirt is a simple cotton shirt, a small gift from the Hatchlings for being their mentor for a few weeks. Then he grabs the large blanket, made out of every piece of clothing that every Claw, Eye and Feather had worn during their time of service. And he was able to recount all their names.  
He wraps it around his form and the shivering of his body stops, then he looks over to the other man, who now tilts his head in a manner to express his curiosity.

“Did Ikora sent you to check in on me? I told her multiple times that I am none of her Hidden and that I can take care of myself”

“Ikora….? Hidden….?”, Xardis echoes confused by the words of the person, and stares puzzled at them.

“You…don’t know Ikora? Vanguard of the Warlocks?”

“What…is a Warlock? And what’s a Vanguard?”, Xardis asks, now even more confused.

“Did you…only recently found this Guardian, Ghost?”, the purple optics look over to Hugin, who checks Odin for any damage.

Xardis little bird turns as he is questioned that and the blue core glows as he thinks for a bit.

“No, I….I found him a long time ago”, he then tells the truth, and surprise is found on the face of the other.

“And my name is not Ghost. I’m Hugin”

“If…what are you then if not a Guardian?”

“I am Lord Xardis, leader of Kvitravn also known as the Mountainlord to my people”, Xardis introduces himself and the man blinks a few times, then he lets out a low chuckle.

“I…my name is Sentis. I am a Warlock of the Last City, sent to investigate the strange signal that came from the Nepal Zone, but I think the answer is sitting in front of me”


	5. Chapter 5

“So you lived your entire life inside a mountain, never seeing one Guardian or even knowing that the Last City exists?”, Sentis asks him, looking quite curious.

“When I opened my eyes for the first time Hugin told me that we needed to move or we would be easy prey for others, so I walked as far as my legs could reach me and collapsed near a village that took me in. After defending it a few times I proposed to the people to move inside a mountain and build the new village so that none would ever find us. Seems like it worked quite well…”, Xardis explains to the Warlock, after being told that it was a simple description of his job and what he was able to do.

“No one even knows that there was a village down there. Some rumors about people living there were all that Ikora’s Hidden could find but that was it. You really have to show me how you did that”, Sentis now sounds curious and Xardis frowns at him, then he asks: “Can I trust you to keep the location of my village a secret?”

“You no longer need the location to be a secret once you are an ally of the Last City and have the support of the Vanguard”, Sentis says and Xardis stops, thinking about that sentence for a bit before he asks: “Is the Last City powerful enough to move a metal construct twice my size without injuring anyone?”

Sentis looks him up and down, measuring his size out and taking it times two in both height and length as also depth before he chuckles amused.

“Did a Warsat drop in your mountain?”, he then asks and Xardis looks over to Hugin.

“Show him the image you made from it”

Hugin floats over to them and then projects the image out into the air, Sentis looks at it and then nods.

“Yes. I can call in some favors from a few friends and we can move that without causing any issues or any damage”, the Warlock then says and Xardis lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding inside.

“Stars be blessed…”, he mutters and then smiles at Sentis.

“If you would do that, Kvitravn would be forever in your doubt”, at those words the Warlock tilts his head, almost as if he would think about something.

“How would your people react to having a small group of people like me at their place?”

“I…they would certainly be thrilled to meet new people and the children would love it!”

“I am thinking about gathering a small group of people and your little village would make it perfect for a hideout or small resting place. How much space do you have?”

Xardis thought for a while and then looks over to Odin, who sleeps in front of the fire, head tugged underneath his wing.

“I…would need to speak about that with my council. I hate to make decisions like that over their head”, he informs Sentis, who nods.

“Understandable and I honor that”, is the answer, then the purple glowing eyes look at him.

“You look like you have a question since you saw me the first time, what is it?”

“I…you have good eyes if you are able to spot that. I asked myself…what are you? I know now that you are a Warlock but…”, he then gestures to Sentis face and the metallic hands.

“I take it you don’t have Exo’s at your place, otherwise you wouldn’t ask that question. Exo’s are…well that is one of the few miracles that no one knows quite a lot about. We just know that Exo’s were once people…or believe to know that they were once people. What happened to make them like they are now, no one knows exactly. Just that Clovis Bray has something to do with it, but nothing more. We are…I guess to put it in simple terms Exo’s are mechanical humans. Human-like machines”, the Exo explains to him, and Xardis nods, staring in wonder at Sentis.

“Can you…eat?”, he then asks and a soft peal of laughter comes from Sentis, who is taken aback by the childish like question that comes from the Warlord.

“Yes I can eat”, is the amusing sounding answer and Xardis’ eyes light up in delight as he smiles brightly at him.

“Wonderful!”

“Xardis, what are you planning?”, Hugin asks him curious and Xardis grins at him.

“Oh little bird, I am not going to tell you that”

“You know I can read some of your thoughts, right?”, Hugin tells him and the Warlord chuckles amused.

“Yes I know, but you don’t have to read thoughts to know what I’m planning”, Xardis says and Hugin sighs, then he floats down next to Odin and cuddles into the chest of the Raven.

“I’m going to power down for the night. If there is anything important happening, just wake me up”, he informs the two, before the blue glowing core goes over into a soft dimmer light and eventually fades out into a very faint blue glow.

“I think sleep is not such a bad idea”, Sentis says and then looks to Xardis, before he points over to the left side of the cabin where a single bed is standing.

“You can have the bed, Exo’s don’t need sleep and one of us has to be awake in case the Eliksni make a move”, Sentis tells him and Xardis looks towards the bed, suddenly all of the energy inside his body faints and he can feel his aching muscles and tired body. The promise of sleep in a nice comfortable warm bed sounds so good and he tries his best to suppress a yawn, but he is powerless against the tired feeling that grips his mind.

“Go and get some sleep, you are certainly tired after such a long travel”, the voice of the Exo sounds soft, almost worried and Xardis is only able to nod, before he stands up and stumbles over to the bed, falling into it and not even able to put the blanket that he is wrapped up in, over his body as the sleep already grabs him and the last thing he remembers is the crackling sound of burning wood, the howling of the wind and the sound of rain against the cabin.


	6. Chapter 6

In the morning Xardis was woken up by Odin, who jumped onto his chest and cawed loud, jumping up and down on the sleeping Warlord until the Awoken opened his eyes and blinked tiredly at the animal.

“Morning…”, he mumbled and then sleepily reached out to pet the white raven. With a soft thrilling noise, Odin closed his eyes and nuzzled his head into Xardis palm, causing the Warlord to chuckle.

“Feeling better, hm?”, he asks and yawns, still not fully awake. Odin caws and then flaps his wings as the door opens, giving a loud caw at the intruder, who happens to be Sentis.

The Guardian looks at the bird and then to Xardis, who blinks a few times, staring at the two fish that the Warlock holds in his hands.

“Breakfast?”, Sentis asks and at that question the stomach of the Warlord answers with a loud growl, causing Sentis to chuckle.

“You caught those?”, Xardis asks, mind still heavy with sleep and the Warlock gives him a look that causes a shiver to run down his spine.

“Yes I did, while you were sleeping and snoring like you wanted to saw down the woods around you, sounded like a damn chainsaw too”

He didn’t know if Sentis was just teasing him or if he was honest with him so he just answered: “That was the first time that someone…well…was present while I am sleeping. Usually, I sleep alone and Hugin did never complain about me being loud”

“Well it kept the Eliksni from attacking you while I was at the river, so it does have something positive”

Okay, Sentis was taking a jab at him now, that Xardis could tell from the amused tone in the Exo’s voice.

“Do you even know how to cook these?”, Xardis then tries to make an attempt at a joke, and Sentis snorts, then he looks at the fish and then back to Xardis.

“Of course I know how to cook these. You slice them open, take out the organs and then you chop of the head, slice ‘em in half and take out the spine before cutting it in the portions you want to have”, Sentis gives him the quick description, and Xardis nods, smiling satisfied.

“Just making sure that you are not trying to poison me”, the Warlord says and Sentis laughs, shaking his head as he summons his void light, this time however it’s not the larger tendrils he used yesterday to warm the body of the Warlord up, no, this time they are much thinner and almost impossible to see in the air, only if they move one can spot them. They almost look like strings if Xardis would have to describe them. And with those strings, Sentis then cut open the two fish and prepared them for cooking. The process itself was done so professionally and fast that it looked for Xardis like he had done this very often.

“You often out alone on missions?”, Xardis then asks and slowly gets up, causing Odin to caw in displeasure and flap his wings to find his balance again, then the Raven takes flight and lands on Xardis shoulder as the Warlord sits in the bed, noticing that the blanket wasn’t wrapped around him anymore, but laid over him like someone had made the effort to tug it out from underneath his body.

“Yes. Not many people at the Tower that I like or can deal with”, Sentis answers and then takes some firewood and places it into the still glowing coals that are inside the fireplace.

“The Tower?”, Xardis asks confused, and looks around for his backpack, finding it in a corner, most likely put there by Sentis.

“The last City is surrounded by a large Wall and there are buildings on it that we call ‘Tower’, it serves as a place to meet people, but also some are working there and the Vanguard is mostly found there”, Sentis explains to him and then puts the fish on two purple glowing sticks that hum with a strange energy and hover over the fire, that now begins to grow over the firewood.

“What is the Vanguard?”, Xardis asks as he stands up and walks to his backpack, opening it as he rummages through it, searching for the spices that he had inside there as well as some bread and herbs.

“They lead the Guardians and each class has a Vanguard. Well…had a Vanguard, the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6 died some time ago. I think the Hunters are now without a Vanguard for almost a year because no Hunter wants to take Cayde’s place. Made them all flee the City too”, he shakes his head and then looks to Xardis, who has found what he was searching for in his backpack, and places the items on the table that is next to the backpack.

“Ikora is the Vanguard of the Warlocks and Zavala is the Vanguard of the Titans”, Sentis explains and Xardis nods, looking at his own hands, then back to Sentis.

“What would I be?”

“Hm?”

“Would I be a Hunter, a Warlock or a Titan?”, he then asks his question more clearly and Sentis looks at him, then he tilts his head.

“What light can you channel and what form does it take?”, he asks him back and Xardis blinks confused, then he looks at his own hands.

“Light…you mean….this?”, fire lashes out and then he holds two smaller axes in his hands, holding them out for Sentis to see. The Warlock steps closer and inspects the two axes, which have a rather intricate design on their blades and the handles as well. The sigil of Kvitravn is surrounded by feathers and small runes on the blades and on the handles are simple runes that Xardis has yet to decipher the meanings of.

“Yes like this. That is solar light and given from the form of your weapons you were never trained in the standard form of channeling your light. And yet it feels like I am standing in front of a Titan, if not even a Warlock given the mastery that you have over it”, he then points to the floor.

“Most new Lights would’ve started to char or even burn the wood of the floor, but not you”, he points out and Xardis nods, looking to the floor and then back to Sentis.

“I’ve not often used my light, but when I did it, I had to be very precise”, he explains and Sentis nods, his purple optics glow a bit brighter as he says: “You would be a Titan, but I think most people would just categorize you as a Warlord since you are from that time period”

“Is that a bad thing?”, Xardis asks intrigued, not wanting others to view him as bad or some evil figure.

“That depends what you did in your time as a Warlord. Some are cruel and evil, while others are benevolent and protecting. But given what you’ve told me about your village and yourself, you are the latter one, so people would view you as a good Warlord”, the Warlock then sits down on the table and takes out a small Datapad, almost similar to the one that Nadia is carrying around with her, although his was a lot smaller and lacked the white rim that Nadia’s had. Properly a newer model as well, given the sleek and more elegant design it had.

“I gave a report to Ikora and she told me to take you to the Last City so you and the Vanguard can talk”, he informed Xardis and the Warlord blinks, then he nods.

“But I am not going to make any decisions without my council”, he tells him, and Sentis nods.

“I am aware of that, as is the Vanguard. Which is why we are then going to head back to your village, take care of the Warsat in your mountain and then talk with your Council and you about being allies to the Last City”, the Warlock informs him and Xardis nods, feeling a little bit giddy at Sentis mentioning taking care of the Warsat. He would love for that headache and problem to be gone off the list.

“But first, breakfast”, the Warlock places the Datapad down on the table and then walks over to the fireplace, taking the two fishes in his hands and bringing them over to the table.

The smell of food makes his stomach rumble again and Odin now also gives a hungry caw, his claws twitching as he stares at one of the fish.

“I also have something for your bird”, Sentis tells him and Xardis blinks surprised, how did the Warlock know what Odin likes to eat?

Sentis leaves the cabin and then comes back with a small net that glows purple and has a strange energy signature to it. Different kinds of berries and roots are in the net and the Warlock places the net with the food for Odin on the table, right next to the fish.

“But he can also have some of the fish if he likes that”, Sentis says and Odin gives a soft caw, probably surprised that Sentis thought of him.


	7. Chapter 7

“What is that?”, after their breakfast, they had packed their things together and Sentis had lead them outside of the cabin after taking out the fire. Now they were standing in front of the cabin and Xardis and Hugin were staring with wonder at the white-black contraption, which Sentis had seemingly summoned out of thin air.

“That is a sparrow”

“Why is it named like that…?”, Xardis asks and steps closer to the weird thing, looking it over and then listening for any bird chirps.

“Are there…are there sparrows inside? Did…did you kill sparrows to make this?!”, Xardis stared at the Warlock, who stared in utter disbelief at the Warlord, then he started to laugh and giggle like a child that was just told a joke.

“N-No…!”, the Warlock tries to calm down, but the laughter shakes his body again.

“Then why is it named like that?”, Xardis asks him and Sentis inhales deep, before letting out a sigh.

“I did not kill any Sparrows for it, nor is it made out of Sparrows and there are most certainly no Sparrows inside it. It is just named like that because of it’s size and speed, reminding of the birds that bear the same name as the machine. Guardians use them to travel faster from place to place and sometimes a Sparrow can reach a place that a ship can’t reach”

“You…have ships?!”, the Warlord stares at Sentis, who nods and then sits down onto the machine, looking up to him and pointing behind him.

“Sit down and wrap your hands around my waist, we’ll be faster this way and my ship is already flying to the position we are heading too”, he orders Xardis, who hesitantly sits down behind the Warlock and then wraps his arms around him, Odin flaps his wings and gives a caw, before he takes to the air and leaves Xardis alone with Sentis. Hugin floats closer to the two of them and then settles for squeezing himself in the backpack of Xardis.

“Ready?”, Sentis asks and Xardis nods, his grip relaxed around Sentis’ waist.

As soon as the machine starts to move, Xardis grip tightens and he lets out a terrified yelp, as the world around them simply transforms into a blur of colors and noises.

Though his stomach feels like it is about to flip and he feels like his breakfast soon will be all over Sentis back, it also feels…amazing. Like flying.

He can hear Odin from the left and as he looks there, he spots the white Raven flying next to them, seemingly amused by his antics. He also should probably send a message soon to the Council, but he also knew that Odin most likely would eat the message and not leave his side, like he had done it on a small hunting trip before.

The feathers had to take care of the poor animal for an entire week and Xardis had made sure to visit Odin every time he had some free time available, helping out the unfortunate feather that was tasked with keeping an eye out on the Raven and making sure that he would drink the small mixture of boiled herbs that they made for him to keep him from vomiting all over the place.

After that incident, no one wanted to use Odin as a messagerbird anymore and Xardis had the sneaking suspicion, that the Raven had eaten his message on purpose so he wouldn’t be used for that kind of thing anymore. Instead, he was just sitting in the perch that every Raven had, attacking almost everyone who came near him that wasn’t Xardis and often stealing food from unprotected windows. If he wasn’t on his perch, the bird found any way to sneak inside Xardis room and sleep in the large bed, sometimes even waking Xardis up in the middle of the night, when he had jumped on his chest. When Xardis had asked a few feathers why Odin was behaving that way, the most common answers were, that the Raven probably had a special connection to him and just simply wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, others told him that he had probably spoiled the Raven too much by giving him only the best meat available and that Odin knew, when he was near Xardis, that he would get some meat from time to time. Xardis had also learned about the high intellect that the creature possessed and sometimes it scared him a bit, but then he was also relieved by it, because one day Odin had helped in the search for a young Hatchling, that had gotten lost in their territory and all Xardis had to do was ask Odin to help and the bird immediately had taken flight and began to search for the young woman. They found her in a cave with a broken ankle and the feathers had immediately taken her back to the village, her parents had scolded her for her reckless behavior, while Xardis had offered Odin some of his personal stack of dried meat as a reward for helping out with the search.

He still remembered the day that the young Hatchling had taken on her Bloodtrial and succeeded, showing a lot of promise in the Trial itself and now she made a very fine Claw, bringing home most of the food that the village consumed and often planning out the bigger hunts that the Claws were doing. Not once was she hurt or injured when the Claws returned from one of their hunts and Xardis was very impressed with that.

“You can let go of me now”, Sentis’ voice cuts through his memories and he lets go of the Warlock, looking around them and then staring at the large ship that he had only seen pictures or old drawings from when their Claws had brought back some crates.

“It…that is impressive…”, he says and Sentis shakes his head, chuckling amused as he gets off his Sparrow.

“That is one of the smaller models that are available. A friend of mine has a much bigger ship”, he tells him and Xardis’ eyes go wide with wonder as he imagines a larger ship like the one that is in front of him.

Then there was a blue flash of light around him and Xardis yelped surprised as he formed again in the inside of the ship, shaking with the shock of what just had happened.

“Transmat, much faster than going inside the ship”, Sentis explains to him and then walks towards the front of the ship, mentioning Xardis to follow him while he said to the air: “Dusk, get us home”

An alien-like chittering noise came from somewhere and a soft rumbling traveled through the ship, somehow Xardis knew that it was the engines who were powering up, getting ready for the flight ahead of them.

“Should I…sit down?”, he asks as he follows Sentis into a small room that is packed with a weird-looking machine and two seats that are behind each other.

“You sit in this one”, Sentis points to the one that is behind the one in the front and Xardis peeks out the glass that covers the head of the room, staring at the rustling trees.

“Wait! Odin!”, he then yelled out in distress and scrambled out of the room, he couldn’t leave the Raven behind like this!

A caw had him froze in the middle of the movement and he stared over his shoulder at Odin, who was sitting on the head of the chair that Sentis had told him to sit in.

“Oh you sly…”, he mutters and he could’ve sworn that Odin chuckled at that, then the ship started to move and Xardis made his way over to the seat, sitting down and watching Sentis, as the Warlock sat down in the larger seat in front of him.

“Get comfortable, this will take a while”, Sentis then tells him and Xardis nods, looking up to Odin, who now flaps his wings and jumps down in his lap, tugging the head underneath his wing and giving a low cawing sound of comfort.


	8. Chapter 8

The Warlord stared at the large white ball that floated in the Sky above a City larger than Kvitravn was, lights glowing everywere and dotting the land underneath the Traveller.

“Magnificent, isn't it?”, Sentis says and stands next to him, looking at the baffled Awoken, who can just stare at the view that unfolds before him.

“Yes...”, Xardis whispers and cawing Odin lands onto the shoulder of him, the eyes looking out into the City, the Raven scooths a bit closer to the large man, his warm body against Xardis neck and face, grounding him and giving him the strength to turn his gaze towards Sentis, who is leaning against the protective railing that keeps him from falling down the Tower.

“If you want to, you can go around and talk to people, Zavala is still busy in his office, a few new Strikes need his attention so you are free to walk around and explore. If someone asks you who you are, tell them you are with Sentis-21 and that you're here to become and independent ally of the Last City. And if some of the security team give you trouble, call for me and I'll help”, the Warlord says with a rather warm comforting voice.

Xardis nods and then stares back at the beautiful view, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath from the air, then a smile blossoms onto his face and he looks over to Hugin, suddenly his high spirit is dampend and shame creeps into his heart.

“You were right...all along you were right and I didn't listen to you...I...I am so sorry...”, he then tells his Ghost and Hugin turns to him, then he floats to come face to face with him and gently taps his nose with one of the points of his shell.

“No worries, I don't hold grudges against you for not believing me. I'm just...glad that we are finally here that...my dreams are real and I didn't just make this up”, Hugin replies and Xardis gently grabs him, giving him a soft hug, carefull to not break his shell again, like he did some many years ago on accident.

He can hear Sentis footsteps growing distant and he turns to see the Warlock leaving his side.

“Were are you going?”, he asks confused and Sentis looks over his shoulder, then he points towards the left side of the large Courtyard they are standing in.

“Handing in my report to Ikora”, the Warlock tells him and then looks around himself, before saying: “Don't worry, I am not far and if you need me, I'll know were to find you. Just tell your Ghost to send a small message my way and I'll come to you”

“My...Ghost...”, the word still seems foreign on Xardis tongue and he fights with himself to accept it, but Hugin told him that he likes to be called by his name and also to be called a Ghost, it was what he was after all. Just like Xardis was an Awoken, he was a Ghost. And even if it felt weird for Xardis, he would do it for the safety and comfort of his friend. Hugin helped him through so many difficult times and he was always there for him. Now it was time for him to give something of that back. For all those times that Hugin was at his side, comforting him, it would just not do to not call Hugin a Ghost.

“Have fun exploring the Tower!”, Sentis tells him and then disappears over a small metal bridge and down a set of stairs that lead to the Bazar, how he had explained it to Xardis when they landed at the Tower the first time.

Xardis takes a deep breath in and then sits down on the hard concrete, placing both hands onto the material to ground himself. Odin gives a soft caw and nuzzles his beak gently against Xardis temple, trying to comfort him a bit.

“Hugin...I...”, the words falter and Xardis can feel his chest constricting like something tightens their grip around it, pressing down and impairing his ability to take in air.

“Are you okay?”, Hugin floats near him and Xardis shakes his head as his body begins to shake uncontrollably. Something is wrong and he....why can't he breathe...?

“I can't...I...”, something snaps and Xardis looks to the source of the sound, staring at the shattered concrete around his fingers as he had clawed at the ground, trying to calm himself down.

Suddenly large hands place themselves on his shoulders and it feels like a weight is lifted off his chest, but he still can't breathe.

“Take a deep breath, Titan”, the voice is rhougher than that of Sentis and it belongs to a human as it lacks the robotic snyth that Sentis voice had.

“I...can't...my...my chest is....something is choking me...”, Xardis whispers and tears gather in his eyes.

“And I...I'm no....I....”, he digs his fingers into the concrete like it's sand, easily breaking apart the material and grinding it into gravel between his shaking hands and fingers.

“Can you stand up?”, the hands disappear from his shoulders the moment the question is asked and Xardis gives a low whimperin in response. Odin suddenly caws loud and alarmed, and that makes Xardis jump to his feet, his muscles flex as he forms his hands into tight fists, ready to fight anything and everything that would be thrown his way.

Then he looks behind himself and blinks a few times as he looks down onto the armored figure that is a bit taller than Sentis, one head smaller than himself as he turns around to take a proper look at the man.

Orange white armor plates cover the body and stripes of black seperate the orange from the white. Underneath he can spot a durable blue-grey suit and heavy fur covered pauldrons cover the shoulders, fur is wrapped around the back of the heavy plate that is over the mans back, probably to protect the neck from the hard material of the armor. A green-white necklace rests on the white black chest plate that covers his torso and a silver pendant hangs off from it, reminding Xardis of snake fangs. The helmet that the man is wearing, lacks one horn however, most likely he lost it in a battle or a fight.

“Can you walk?”, the man asks him and Xardis nods, now a bit embarrassed that the other had seen him in such a condition.

“Follow me”

Without questioning the man, he follows him over to an area that has a few Frames standing around them, colored in red and white.

“My Lord?”, one of them, sporting a set of Horns, similar to that of the man and some fur wrapped around the neck.

“Hold the position for now Arcite, this Guardian needs my help”, the man says and then gestures for Xardis to follow him over to a set of stairs that lead down, away from the bustling of the Tower.

As the door closes behind them, Xardis collapses onto his knees, body shaking as the panic settles in, this time less than before.

The man, who is probably a Titan if Xardis would need to take a guess, kneels down in front of him.

“May I?”, he asks and Xardis only nods, nearly jolting as arms wrap around him and he is pulled into a tight hug, at first the panic spikes, but then it lowers down and he begins to take in the first few deep breaths since the panic attack started.

“First time in the City?”

“Y-Yes...I...Sentis-21 brought me here to...independent ally...”, Xardis scrambles for the words, trying to explain his situation to the man.

“Sentis? Why would be bring a Guardian here to become an independent ally?”

“I...I am not a Guardian...”, Xardis says and he can feel the body of the other tense slightly.

“He...found me out in the wild...I...I owe him...he....he'll...help me and my village...”, the Warlord explains and then he tries to break free from the strong hug, the arms gently let go off him and the Titan nods, then he points towards a couch behind him.

“That explains why you had a panic attack. Feeling better?”

“Y-Yeah...thank you...”, Xardis mutters and then moves over to the couch, sitting down. Odin gives a soft caw and then hops down into his lap, giving a soft cooing sound to calm Xardis down. He absently pets the feathers of the white Raven and then looks over to the Titan, who moves over to the count and sits down.

“My husband was busy with a few New Lights, or he would've comforted you himself, so he asked me to do it”, came the answer and Xardis blinks surprised by this information.

“You...how is it not...how can you...?”, he looks puzzled at him, the countless people he outlived, the lovers he lost and the dread that had settled deep in his stomach whenever a young man had confessed his feelings for him only to be in tears when he had politly told them about his situation.

“I take it from your words that you have lost some of the people you hold dear. It is...never easy to deal with it, but I can always count on Sal to come back. He is...too stubborn to die or give up. And his Ghost is always at this side, ready to aid him, should he be injured. What is your name?”

“My people...call me Lord Xardis....so...Xardis for you”, he says and then looks around for Hugin.

The Ghost howers at the entrance to the room, looking a bit shy.

“Hugin...it's safe...”, he says and Hugin floats over to him in a flash of light, bumping into his chest.

“I am sorry! I wasn't able to do anything but watch...!”, Hugin's voice is heavy with guilt and Xardis gently tabs the shell, giving him a weak smile.

“It is okay...”, he whispers soft and the man waits for the three of them to calm down, then he introduces himself too.

“I am Lord Shaxx and given by what you talked about, you...are a Warlord?”

“Yes...!”, recognizing the term that Sentis had used to describe him, Xardis nods and then continues to pet Odin's feathers.

“So that is why you are becoming an independent ally then. Were did Sentis find you? And how did you manage to hide yourself and your village so well over the decades?”, Shaxx now sounds interested and intrigued and Xardis blinks, thinking over his answer.

“I...don't know were he found me...I could not even regocnize the area that I build the village into the mountain if I would see it on a map...”

“You...build your village into a mountain?”, Shaxx now sounds very interested and the Warlord nods, a huge smile appears on his face as he thinks back to his village and the people in it.

“Yes! It...took a few years but in the end I had a safe place for people to life in and be protected from the weather and anyone who wanted to harm them. I...thought we were the only survivors for a long time until Hugin had dreams of this place”, Xardis answers and then looks to Hugin, who sits in his lap and is currently being used as a pillow for Odin to cuddle into, but both look comfortable with the situation.

“So why did you set foot outside if your village was safe?”

“A...warsat dropped on the mountain and is now polluting our water and the vents that supply the whole cave cunstruct with air. Sentis already told me that he would help me move it without casualties”

“He is a good person despite many people saying the opposite about him. A shame he is a Praxic, without them at his side he would have so much more potential, but don't tell him that I said that”

“It is safe with me, don't worry”, Xardis says and smiles warm.

Then there is a soft knock on the door and it opens, letting a bit of the bright sunlight in as another Titan enters the room.

“How is he doing?”

“I am doing fine...thank you for worrying about me...”, Xardis said and the Titan nods, helmet still on as he looks over to Shaxx.

“Arcite is handling the Crucible for now, but you can tell him that I'll be back shortly”, Shaxx says and the other nods understanding, their armor is hard to make out in the dim light of the room itself.

“Sal, one question though. Do you have some spare armor for Xardis?”

“I don't need...!”, Xardis wants to protest, but Shaxx interrupts him by simply looking at him and even if the Titan wears a helmet, he can feel the piercing gaze on him, daring him to finish the sentence.

“I don't want to cause any problems”, Xardis says and the Titan at the door laughs amused.

“Nonsense! I will give you some of my spare armor and you can use it to make your own. After all it looks like you make your clothes yourself. Do you have a ship were I can place the armor?”

“I believe he was taken here by Sentis-21. Have the armor delivered to his ship and tell him about it”, Shaxx says and the Titan nods.

“And Sal...? Don't wreck the door on your way out”

“Oh come on it was one time!”

“I have Sebas on speed dial by now given how many times you've ruined the door to our apartment!”, Shaxx almost yells and Xardis feels like he is intruding in a very private moment between the two.

“I wouldn't ruin them if you were a bit more patient!”

The argument that was about to break out between the two if them, is silenced as Odin gives a loud caw of protest, almost like he is upset about the two yelling at each other.

“We'll continue this conversation later, Savalthus”, Shaxx says and then looks over to Xardis, as Hugin chimes in with a: “Sentis is looking for us, seems Commander Zavala is ready to talk with us”

“I can bring you to his office”, Shaxx offers and Xardis nods.

“That...would be nice”, he says.


	9. Chapter 9

A bit nervously the Warlord entered the Labyrinth system that kept intruders from wandering into Kvitravn, the only thing that would keep other Guardians from wandering into the village if they didn't had a Claw or himself with them. He also had Sentis blindfolded, part of the agreement that he and Zavala had agreed upon.

As they made their way through the darkness that surrounds them, Xardis can feel how the anxiety fades away with each step he takes deeper into the mountain, the cool air seems to calm him down and the knowledge that he could lead Sentis into a dead-end or a trap also calmed him down. Even if he wouldn't do that, since the Guardian had promised him he would take care of the Warsat on their mountain. And he also still had to talk with his council over becoming independent allies for the Last City, that was a topic he didn't budge, no matter how hard Zavala was pressing him or trying to have him deceide over the head of his Council, Xardis stayed steady and didn't budge.

Odin on his shoulder gave a low cawing sound and flapped his wings, then the Raven took flight and disappeared into the labyrinth before them, the sound of flapping wings being echoed from the walls, amplyfied so it sounded like a flock of Ravens was flying in front of them. It made Xardis smile and he chuckled low.

They took several turns and it also seemed that they were walking in circles, but that was the entire plan behind the Labyrinth, to have no one find through it and stumbling over the village by sheer accident. Once a month Xardis himself walked through the labyrinth and he was always finding a few dead animals or sometimes was being attacked by a stray wolf or goat that had wandered inside the Labyrinth and got lost in it. Sometimes he also found corpses in the traps and in the beginning he also had found some of his own people in the traps, despite them having a map for the Labyrinth. By now every inhabitant of Kvitravn new the Labyrinth by heart and every child learned to take the right path. For Xardis it was as natural as breathing, his feet found the way themselves and he didn't need the map that he had with him.

Then they took the last turn and Kvitravn unfolded in front of them, the village that was build into the mountain itself, every house carved out of the stone, torches illuminating the village, giving everything a soft orange glow. Xardis immediately noticed the stale air and his concern for the older people skyrocketed, especially those that were sick or had trouble breathing.

“Momo!”

He looked down and a huge smile appears on his face as he spots several children standing at the entrance to the village, their faces light up in delight as they spot him and they ran over to him, yelling out his name. Odin, who was sitting on a perch, cawed at a Feather, who tried to search him for any damage or wounds, flapping his wings in protest so that the young woman couldn't come near her without getting hit by his wings or even getting attacked by the Raven.

Xardis kneeled down and opend his arms, embracing a few of the children in his arms and pulling them close to his body, hiding his face in their midst and inhaling their scent, a soft chuckle vibrating in his chest.

“Did you all behave while I was gone?”, he teases them and a chorus of “Yes!” and “Sure!”, came back at him, which caused him to laugh. He then gently let go of those he was holding in his arms and turned around to Sentis, who now had his blindfold taken off by Hugin.

“Welcome to Kvitravn, Sentis”, he welcomes the Exo, who stares in wonder at the village that was in front of him, taking in the impressive stonework and the beautiful crafted roads that lead through the city, the orange torches that were lined up in the streets and on the walls of the carved large cave itself, staring at the ceiling of the large cave were several lights of solar energy were moving in a slow soft pattern, each of them standing for the life of a person that they had lost.

“Momo, who is he?”, one of the children asks him, her eys wide as she stares at the new person behind Xardis.

“That is Sentis...he...he is like me”, Xardis explained to her and then smiled warm.

“And he'll get rid of that large boulder that causes all of us such trouble”, he then adds and the girls face lights up with delight as she squeals, running over to Sentis and hugging his legs.

The Warlock tenses up and looks a bit helpless to Xardis, before he very akwardly reaches down and pets the hair of the girl, causing her to laugh.

“Xardis!”

Dres nearly stumbled over his own feet as he ran through the large crowd that had begun to gather around them and Xardis immediately ran towards the young man, catching him in a strong hug, pulling his trembling body close to him and letting out a soft laughter.

“I take it you missed me?”, he joked and Dres punched him on the arm and then wrapped his arms around him, shivering as he started to sob.

“We...We thought you were dead!”, he the exclaimed and Xardis' brows furrow.

“And...why is that?”

“There was no message from you! You never sent Odin to us! And...three months have passed since you...were gone...we had lost hope you would ever return to us!”, the former Claw explains him and Xardis' body freezes with shock. Was he...really gone for that long...?

“I am sorry that I troubled you, old friend...”, he apologises to Dres, who tightens the hug, body shivering with the feelings that were rushing through it.

“Nadia and Havi will be so glad to see you again...!”

“Were are they? I have great news!”, Xardis gently lets go of Dres, who also lets go off him and then points towards the large building in the middle of the village that had the large white Raven sigil carved into it's front.

“We had a meeting to discuss who would take your place...!”, he told him and Xardis smiles warm, hugging Dres once more.

“I am so sorry that I have put you all through this...”, he whispers and Dres laughs, before shaking his heads.

“Thank the ancestors that you are still alive...and...who did you bring with you?”, the caramel eyes then shifted to Sentis and the Warlock stepped forward, the children that had surrounded him with curious expressions on their faces, made space for him and parted like the sea around the Exo, who stepped now behind them.

“That is Sentis, but I will talk about the details once I can introduce him to Havi and Nadia!”, Xardis explains to him and nods to Sentis.

“Follow us!”, he tells him and then walks towards the large building, chuckling as he hears Odins loud caw and the white Raven comes flying to him, a small peace of fresh meet in his beak that he had no doubt stolen from the window sill of an unsuspecting young Claw. The Raven sits down on his shoulder again and with a low humming sound he eats the piece of meat.

“You are a little thief, but I am proud of you. The people should know better than to leave their food unprotected”, he whispers to the Raven, who gives a proud low caw and fluffs up his white feathers, puffing out his chest as a response to Xardis words. Chuckling the Warlord gently pets Odins head and then they enter the building.

As the door to the council room is pushed open, Xardis can hear Nadia saying: “The Hatchlings will never take anyone else serious as their Witness for their Trial other than Xardis himself!”

“Well good thing then that I am back and they better not slack in their Bloodtrials!”, he says and Nadia freezes, then she turns around and stares at Xardis as if he is a Ghost.

He smiles at her and opens his arms to offer her a hug, Nadias lower lip begins to tremble and then she walks over to him, a sharp pain blossoms in his left cheek as she slaps him, before hugging him.

“Never do that again you idiot!”, she says and her voice breaks at the end as she starts to sob.

Havi just waves at him from were he is sitting, an amused smile on his face from Xardis dumbstruck reaction to being slapped.

“Nadia...”

“I am not apologising for having slapped you, you deserved that!”, she said in a stern voice and then let go of him, staring at him with her dark silver eyes that reminded him so much of silver pearl granit with the dark flecks in them.

“Yes I do”, he then says and chuckles soft, then Nadia stares behind him at Sentis, who now takes off his helmet, her eyes almost buldge out of her skull and she just stares at him.

“Y-You...!”

The Exo blinks confused at her and tilts his head.

“Should I know you? Are you also a Risen like Xardis?”, Sentis then asks and Nadia shakes her head.

“N-No! I have none such powers like him but...your medical notes are impressive...! They....They have safed the lifes of several people including Dres!”, she then tells him and Xardis looks surprised from Nadia to Sentis.

“You wrote those journals?”, he then asks and Sentis shrugs.

“I can't remember anything from my previous life. So even if I wrote them, I wouldn't know about them anymore, but I am glad that the work from my previous life is being used to safe people”, the Warlock tells them and Xardis gestures to the table.

“Please...sit all down, we have a lot to talk about”, he says and Havi raises an eyebrow.

“I hope that you have a solution for our problem. Two older people suffocated yesterday because of the bad air quality...”, he tells him and Xardis nods, then he points at Sentis.

“Sentis is going to take care of the construct! He and his friends are going to lift it from the mountain using a large ship! They are waiting outside on his signal!”, he tells the three of them and Havi and Nadia look reliefed and happy, but Dres frowns and asks: “And what does Sentis want in return?”

“That we become independent allies of the Last City and that...we allow Guardians, who are people with powers like I have them, access to our village”, he tells him and Dres thinks for a bit, looking towards Havi and Nadia.

Nadia is the first to speak.

“I am not against this idea. However...no firearms are allowed in here. If you are wearing them you are breaking the laws of Kviravn and the Eyes will deal with you accordingly!”, she points to the large shotgun on Sentis back, who smiles and takes the weapon of his back, it disappears in a blue flash and he holds up his hands, showing her that he is unarmed.

“That will be the least of your village concerns”, Sentis tells her with a warm voice and both Havi and Dres nod.

“If we find any...Guardian wearing a firearm on them, that weapon wil be confiscated” she then says and Sentis nods.

“I understand and I will tell all Guardians who come here of this rule”, the Exo says and Nadia relaxes.

“I see nothing then that would speak against being the Independent allies of the Last City”, she tells Xardis and both Havi and Dres agree with her.

The Warlord smiles warm and then looks over to Sentis.

“You can tell that Zavala once you are back in the City, Kvitravn will be an Independent Ally and they can count on me and my people to help them out”, he tells the Warlock and Sentis nods, his shoulders relax and sack down a bit.

“Good...now show me to the Warsat and I will uphold my end of the deal”, Sentis says and Xardis nods.

“Right this way”

Even more snow had gathered upon the Warsat, making it look like someone had thrown a large white fluffy blanket over the construct and forgotten to take it off.

Sentis walked around the construct and at some points even floated a few inches over the ground, assessing the rhough measurements of the Warsat.

“It will take us only ten minutes to lift it and transport it to the Last City. Or do you want to keep it and make something out of it?”, he asks the Warlord and Xardis looks over the large construct, then he shakes his head, the wind howling in his ears.

“Take it and do whatever you want with it”, he tells the Warlock, who nods and then lifts up his hand, purple tendrils errupt out of it and form into a large purple glowing ball, that he then shoots up in the sky. It explodes and lights the way for the large flying ship that now makes it way up towards the mountain, a large steelnet underneath it.

“I will need your help to lift the Warsat into the net”, Sentis tells to Xardis and the Warlord nods.

“Just tell me when to push”, he says and Sentis nods, then he whistles and in a blue shimmer five more people are around them, only one of them familiar to Xardis.

“Nassiz, Drei, Sal, Sebas, Scrapper, each of you takes one of the sides of the Warsat. Scrapper? You make sure that the Warsat doesn't roll down the mountain”, Sentis addresses a behemoth of a man, who wears a breathing mask and has four blue glowing eyes along with two sets of arms.

“I would lift the entire thing myself with the help of my House”, Scrapper's voice sounds like the rumbling of thunder as he speaks and a shiver travels through Xardis as he hears that voice.

“Don't take yourself so full!”, the person who wears a black-red cloak gently punches the thigh of the large man, who grunts and then pets the smaller head of the man with one of his lower arms.

“I could say something about you taking yourself full with something, but this is not the right place for something like that”

“Oh please, we are all adults here!”, the cloaked figure responds and Scrapper huffs, before he positions himself underneath the Warsat, his back to the cliffside of the mountain and his head and face facing the Warsat.

“Well then, how about you prove yourself, Nassiz?”, he teases the cloaked figure and Xardis can hear a huff from the smaller figure, that wears a set of robes.

“Could we not enter a dick measuring contest here?”, is then the slight annoyed sounding question of him and he floats up to the underside of the ship, taking the large net from it and floating down with it. The ship hovers over their heads and the engines are not as loud as Xardis had expected them.

“Sure Sparkles! But you know that Scrapper would win that contest!”

“Shut it!”, the smaller figure replies and nearly drops the net onto Nassiz, who gives an amused cackle.

“Drei he is just teasing you”, Xardis recognizes the voice as that of Sal and he smiles at the Titan, waving at him. Sal nods simply at him and then looks at the Warsat, before he looks back to the net.

“I am glad that I went with the bigger and stronger net, so we have a bit of leeway, should something go wrong”, Sal says and then takes the net from Drei's hands, which are decorated with golden claws of bone that once belonged to an animal.

He and the large man drape the net around the front of the Warsat, then he waves towards the ship, which floats down towards them, low enough so he can attacht one side of the net to it.

“Fly back a few inches Shaxx”, he says to the air and Xardis squints, spotting the familiar white and orange one-horned helmet in the glassfront of the ship. The ship floats back in th air and the net expands.

“Okay, Scrapper? We will roll this onto the net and you'll hold the Warsat so Nassiz can tie the net around the Warsat and Drei can tie the net to the ship so that Shaxx can then lift it from the mountain. Any areas that he should not step onto, Xardis?”, Sentis looks to him and Xardis shakes his head.

“The Warsat itself rests on top of a vent so you might need to push a little harder to get it out there”, he then informs them and Sentis nods.

“You'll of course help us out too”, he says and Xardis chuckles amused.

“I wouldn't have let you guys do this without me participating”, he says and Scrapper gives a low growl before saying: “I already like him”

“Alright, everyone on their marks!”, Sentis says and claps in his hands.

Like a well oiled machine the people move around the Warsat and Xardis just follows in their rhythm.

“And on my mark, push!”, Sentis yells out over the wind, that now picks up and Xardis looks up at the sky that had darkned quite a bit.

A snowstorm was coming their way and he hoped that the ship could handle a storm, because the storms at the mountain could get quite heavy.

“If we are not done in ten minutes, then I would stop it and wait for the snowstorm to pass!”, he yells out to Sentis, who floats over to Warsat, overseeing the entire process, the Exo simply nods and then gives the mark for them to push.

At first nothing moves and Xardis fears that the construct is lodged too deep into the mountain, but them with a horrible metallic screaching sound, the construct moves underneath their hands.

Scrapper lets out a surprised yelp as the entire Warsat suddenly is yanked forward and falls int othe net, the ship that is attached to it, dips down a bit and it hits the large man in the head, causing him to let out an infuriated growl and a series of deep rumbling noises that sounds like he is swearing in a different language.

“You okay?!”, Nassiz yells over the howling wind and Xardis watches as the Hunter climbs nimbly onto the Warsat and ties the net around it, before Drei again floats up to the ship and reattaches the hooks of the net to the ship, nodding to Sal, who speaks again: “Okay, slowly lift it up!”, to the air. Maybe he is using his Ghost to communicate directly with Shaxx.

Xardis nearly starts to cry as the Warsat is slowly lifted up from the mountain and he yells out a cheer as the ship has lifted the Warsat from the mountain and he can see the vent again.

He immediately kneels down and checks the large vent for damage, whincing when he sees the large cracks inside the upper part and the broken ledge were the Warsat had hit the mountain. He would need to reinforce this with metal and wield it to the vent to fix the damage caused by the construct.

Then he looks up to the six, a huge smile on his face.

“Thank you! All of you! I never thought that Guardians existed and yet here you stand before me...! Tonight...you are my guests!”

Nassiz clears his throat and then points to Scrapper, saying: “Really hate to pop your bubble there, but, Scrappere here ain't a Guardian. He's an Eliksni”

“Oh...well he is still a guest of honor tonight! As are you all!”, Xardis smiles at them and warmth blossoms in his heart as he watches the ship disappear into the clouds, the Warsat dangling from underneath it.

“So...we can see your village now?”, Nassiz asks and Xardis nods.

“Of course! Follow me!”, he tells them and his silver eyes glow bright like a set of stars as he walks over to the secret entrance, seemingly slipping into the snow and stone, disappearing from their sight.

His head then appears again and he looks towards Scrapper.

“Though...I think you need to crawl in here...”, he says and bites his lower lip.

Scrapper laughs and looks at Xardis amused.

“I have no trouble with that”, he assures him and the Warlord smiles bright, glad that his guest is okay with that.

The following evening is filled with laughter and a celebration unlike any held before in the village of Kvitravn. The children immediately start climbing on top of Scrapper when they spot him, prodding and poking at the large Eliksni, who has no trouble with it and simply lets the children climb on his body. They all had to strip off their armor as a sign that they trusted the Village and Xardis gladly kept their armor safe in a different room, together with their weapons. He was intrigued, when Drei told him with a sad smile, that he could no longer remove the golden bones and the silver feathers of metal from his arms as they were permanently fused with his body and Nadia scolded the Warlock when she saw the scars on the fingers and the hands, indicating that he had severly damaged them through frostbite and other things.

He was also surprised, when Havi gently slid a scroll over the table and winked at him and he laughed when Nadia slammed down a pair of leather gloves that were lined on the inside with wool.

It was already late in the evening and their guests had retreated into their chambers for the night, as Xardis sat down in his room and gently unrolled the scroll, Hugin had powered down in his little nest that he shared with Odin, the raven already sleeping in it, cuddling against the round shell of the Ghost and laying his head on the shell.

He lit a candle and then opened the scroll, a smile appears on his face as he reads the scroll.

_Havi's Legendary Tea_

¾ cup of water

¾ cup of white sugar

1 stick of cinamon

1 orange

10 whole cloves

1 bottle of red starnectar

_Pour the Water and sugar into a pod and add the cinamon under stirring, then wait until everything boils, reduce the heat and let it simmer._   
_Cut the Orange in half and squeeze the juice into the mix of water and sugar, then stick the cloves into the peel and place it within the pod. Continue simmering until it reaches a sirup like consistence, which should take 30 minutes._   
_At last pour in the red starnectar and heat it up until steam is produced, not simmering and also not boiling, let it sit for 5 minutes and then remove the orange peel with the cloves._   
_Pour the mixture into 6 pre-heated warm mugs (cold ones will crack and break) and serve it to your friends._

Xardis chuckles warm to himself and looks down at the recipe, shaking his head.

Alcohol.

That was what made him feel so light, it was the alcohol from the red starnectar, which Havi's family hade made for decades themselves by letting the juice of their red grapes ferment. They had named it starnectar and sold it to the people in the village. And Havi used it to make tea. He laughs amused and then gently rolls the scroll back up, placing it in one of the shelfs, before he turns around and strips out of his clothes, looking over his body and gently tracing the crescent red scars on his chest with the tips of his fingers, memories flood his mind and he begins to shake as sadness grips his heart.

He thought that he would outlive everyone he cared for...but now he had people that were just like him. Never aging and with the power to destroy entire acres of land without every needing to move much. He had always outlived his lovers...but...maybe now he would find someone that...he would not outlive. Someone that could be his...someone that he could dedicate his entire love to and never be afraid that he wouldn't understand him when he had strange dreams and heard strange whispers in his head. For the first time in decades, Xardis felt hope.

Hope that he could have a relationship that wouldn't be over in a few decades, but one that would stay for eons.


End file.
